


And I Know This Road Is Rough

by geez



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, charloe - Freeform, spoilers for Austin City Limits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 05:43:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1417225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geez/pseuds/geez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bass finds Charlie with a dead body in her lap and tears on her face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And I Know This Road Is Rough

**Author's Note:**

> After that episode, I had to write something about Bass finding Charlie with Jason's body. It was so heartbreaking and Charlie's emotions being all over the place would guarantee wonderful moments between them. This is my interpretation.

After Miles shoots the kid- about damn time, by the way- and he knocks yet another Texas Ranger, Connor is found relatively easily. One of his kid’s better attributes is that he knows when it is time to high tail his scrawny ass out. But while Connor is loping towards him, fairly unaffected by it all, Bass cannot help but notice that Charlie is nowhere to be seen. That is most definitely not good considering Miles has been more pissy than usual with him. “Where’s Charlie?” 

Connor shrugs casually. “Last I saw, she was following Six Pack into that building.” 

Bass stares at his son for a few still seconds, wondering at how he could be so incredibly dense. “And you didn’t follow her? That kid is a walking time bomb. And you just left Charlie alone with him, without back up. Jesus, Connor, think.” 

The young man holds his hands up defensively. “Look, it just didn’t seem as important as the task at hand. Besides, they probably got in a nice quickie and will walk down any second.” He grumbles jealously. 

The first thought in Bass’s head is There’s nothing more important than Charlie. The second thought is that he should really punch Connor in the nose. He loves his son, honestly. But he sees too much of his old self in him. The part of him that completely disregards anything but what benefits him. Instead all he does is laugh without any real humor and say, “Kid, if you think Charlie is like that then you need to rethink this whole pursuing her thing.” With that, Bass steps past Connor towards the building he had said Charlie and Nipples- he really had to thank Miles for letting that nickname slip- had walked into. 

“Where are you going? Charlie will be fine.” Connor snaps at him, eyes narrowing. 

“I’m not going back to Miles without her.” Bass says quickly, feeling increasingly anxious to get to Charlie. If she’s hurt, it is on him. “Go to the rendezvous point without me. Tell Miles I’m getting her.” 

Connor watches his father stalk into the building, gripping the hilt of his sword and bouncing on the balls of his feet with each step. There is always something different about him when Charlie is involved. The whole trip back to Willoughby, he avoided Connor as much as possible and constantly watched Charlie. Sometimes Connor thought he looked platonically proud of her, but other times all he saw was smouldering longing that made him feel as if he was intruding on something important. He cares about her, he realizes with jolting clarity. 

Bass takes the steps two at a time, his sword in front of him, ready for anything. He is no help to Charlie if he gets cut down before she even has the chance to know that he was coming for her. For some unknown reason, Bass is terribly afraid of what he will find. When he reaches the fifth floor, he hears wailing- Charlie’s- before he even opens the thick door. Without thought he bursts into action, running down the hall, screaming her name and vowing vengeance on Nipples for hurting her. “Charlotte!” He followed her cries, already planning on how he was going to kill Jason Neville where he stood. It was going to be epic, his sword was going to come out the other end, and the bastard would fall to his knees, blood pulling out of him helplessly. Bass kicked down the door, ready to do just that, only to find that Charlie had already beaten him to it. 

He stops short, trying to process the scene of Charlie kneeling in Jason’s blood, holding his head in her lap, and crying relentlessly. “Charlie?” He takes a step towards her, looking to help even though he has no clue how to do that. “Charlie, talk to me.” 

Finally, finally, she looks up at him and the look on her face breaks his heart. Her bright blue eyes stand out against the red puffiness surrounding her irises and tears stream down her face helplessly. “He’s...he’s dead.” She murmurs. “I killed him.” Her crying only gets worse. “I didn’t mean to! Please, I didn’t mean to.” 

Once he gets close enough to kneel beside her, Bass takes her hand from Jason’s lifeless body. Her small fingers curl involuntarily against his. “I know, sweetheart, I know.” Charlie just nods, like his word is gospel. He allows her another second to grieve before remembering that there are Texas Rangers looking for him right now. “Charlotte.” Bass waits until she makes eye contact with him. “We have to go. They’re looking for us.” 

She shakes her head defiantly, eyes gleaming. “No. I can’t leave him here. I did this to him.” 

“No.” He snaps. “You didn’t. Those goddamn Patriots did. And if you want revenge, you have to leave him here. The only way Jason gets justice is if you get it for him.” She doesn’t answer, only stares at Jason, caressing his forehead. “Please, Charlotte. You can’t give up like this.” 

“Why not? We’re all going to die anyway. Might as well die here. With him.” 

“If you die, Charlie, then they won’t have anything left to fight for.” 

With those words, her head snaps up. “We who?” 

“Miles, your mom, they fight for you. You know that.” Bass takes a deep breath, preparing for this one final attempt before he just drags her out of here. “And me, too. So you see, Charlotte, we might all die sometime soon but I will do whatever I can to keep you breathing. Including knocking you out and carrying you away from here.” 

She drags her eyes from him, probably not liking what she sees there, and stares down at Jason once more. Eventually, she takes a shuddering breath and leans down, giving him a kiss on the forehead before removing his head from her lap and standing up. Her jeans are completely soaked with Jason’s blood, just like her hands, and Bass thinks that this is what he must have looked like after he lost Shelley and the baby. One more sob rips from her before she forces herself to turn away from Jason’s body. “Okay...okay. I’m ready.”   
“All right. Let’s go.” They make their way out quietly, Charlotte trailing behind him but not really watching his back. Just this once, Bass doesn’t mind. He understands, probably better than most, how she feels. 

They have just made it outside and are on their way to Miles and Connor when she suddenly says, “Thank you.” 

Bass’s footsteps still and he takes a sidelong glance at her. Her arms are crossed and her eyes are downcast. The poor girl is completely broken, nothing like the fierce creature he knows. “What for?” 

“Everyone leaves me.” Charlie risks making eye contact with him and she finds his expression strangely vulnerable. “But you always come back. You never leave me.” 

He really wants to say And I never will but that’s not appropriate. Besides, he has revealed too much today. Instead, he just says, “Your welcome.” The whole time promising that he will never leave her, not even if she asks him to.


End file.
